Explore the Mass Humanities funded projects awarded from 2000 to the present. Browse by grant type, city, region or keyword. Subscribe and receive news when grants are awarded. Interact with a state map of grants awarded!
Non-Violent Movements in the Modern World
A 10-session professional development course for 20 teachers to study primary sources and teaching materials on notable nonviolent movements in the modern world.
Worcester, MA, Worcester County (Central)
project director: Paul S. Ropp
awarded on: 2012-12-14
amount: $10,000
See-Hear-Feel-Film
A program designed for third graders that uses a series of international short films to teach students the power of story, help them gain visual literacy, cultivate the analytical skills necessary for our media culture, and inspire their imaginations. Participants will hail from 66 classes in public schools in underserved districts throughout the Pioneer Valley, including Amherst.
Amherst, MA, Hampshire County (CT Valley)
project director: Jake Meginsky
awarded on: 2012-12-14
amount: $5,000
Photo Digitization and Exhibit
Scanning, inventory, and electronic storage of more than 500 photographs in the Hassanamisco Indian Museum's collection.
South Grafton, MA, Worcester County (Central)
project director: D. Rae Gould
awarded on: 2012-12-14
amount: $1,500
Fine Arts Work Center Year-Round Reading Series
Honoraria for visiting authors of national repute and two chartered buses that will be used to transport seniors to readings held at the Center.
Provincetown, MA, Barnstable County (Cape & Islands)
project director: Salvatore Scibona
awarded on: 2012-12-14
amount: $5,000
Berkshire Festival of Women Writers
A month-long, community-wide series of readings, lectures, films and discussions, writing workshops, networking events, and performances by and for women writers. The festival focuses on the concept of strengthening women's voices through writing.
Great Barrington, MA, Berkshire County (Berkshire)
project director: Jennifer Browdy de Hernandez
awarded on: 2012-12-14
amount: $5,000
Sojourner Truth and 19th Century Florence
A three-part effort to bring 300 Springfield students to Florence for a Sojourner Truth walking tour, which will include exploration of historic houses and places where African-American fugitives lived and worked during the antebellum period.
Florence, MA, Hampshire County (CT Valley)
project director: Terrence O'Toole
awarded on: 2012-12-14
amount: $9,566
Youth Programs at the Royall House & Slave Quarters
Development of a youth curriculum for the museum-which features the only known "slave quarters" in New England-that is tied to the Massachusetts curriculum frameworks for third and fifth grade (when Massachusetts history is taught).
Medford, MA, Middlesex County (Metrowest Boston)
project director: Margen Kelsey
awarded on: 2012-12-14
amount: $5,000
Linking Past and Present: Slavery and Anti-Slavery Reform in the Northampton Landscape
Creation and installation of three historic markers about local history concerning slavery and abolition. The new markers will feature "QR codes" that, when scanned with a smartphone, will lead to Web resources that feature more information than the marker, such as short audio and video files.
Northampton, MA, Hampshire County (CT Valley)
project director: Kerry Buckley
awarded on: 2012-12-14
amount: $5,000
Time Enough
Reading and discussion group using Christian McEwen's "World Enough and Time: On Creativity and Slowing Down" as the basis for discussion, along with books and articles drawn from the library's own collection.
Northampton, MA, Hampshire County (CT Valley)
project director: Lisa Downing
awarded on: 2012-12-08
amount: $1,000
Point A to Point B: The Literature of Traveling and Transformation
Reading and discussion program on the literature of travel and transformation.
Barnstable, MA, Barnstable County (Cape & Islands)
project director: Antonia Stephens
awarded on: 2012-11-06
amount: $500
Robbins House Interpretive Center Inventory
Surveyal of archives relating to the African-American history of Concord and its neighboring towns from 1750-1787 in preparation for programming at the newly restored Robbins House.
Concord, MA, Middlesex County (Metrowest Boston)
project director: Robert Gross
awarded on: 2012-06-15
amount: $1,500
Winn-Adams Family Collection
Inventory of the images relating to the annual Barrington Fair (c. 1841-1980) that are part of the Domenic and Marie Tassone photographic collection.
Arlington, MA, Middlesex County (Metrowest Boston)
project director: Faith Ferguson
awarded on: 2012-06-15
amount: $1,498
Tassone Photo Exhibition: Great Barrington's Agricultural Fairs
Inventory of the images relating to the annual Barrington Fair (c. 1841-1980) that are part of the Domenic and Marie Tassone photographic collection.
Great Barrington, MA, Berkshire County (Berkshire)
project director: Gary Leveille
awarded on: 2012-06-15
amount: $1,500
City of Champions: Youth Vision in Context
A summer class for underserved youth. The six-week intensive course will explore the history of Brockton through documentary photography.
(project website)
Boston, MA, Suffolk County (Greater Boston)
project director: Haidan Hodgson
awarded on: 2012-06-08
amount: $9,555
Hidden in Plain Sight: Freedom Seekers and Abolitionism in New Bedford, MA
A core exhibit examining the choices of citizens who harbored fugitives from slavery both before and after the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which made such sanctuary illegal.
New Bedford, MA, Bristol County (Southeast)
project director: Loretta D. Blake
awarded on: 2012-06-08
amount: $10,000
Elizabeth Bishop and the Art of Losing
Pre-production for a feature documentary on the life and unknown stories of poet Elizabeth Bishop.
Ithaca, NY, Tompkins County
project director: John Scott
awarded on: 2012-06-08
amount: $4,000
Ancient Identities: Arms and Adornment in the Age of Bronze and Iron
A permanent exhibit on Bronze and Iron Age artifacts from the Mediterranean Basin. The exhibit will include arms and armaments but also everyday items that illuminate aspects of personal identity in the Ancient World.
Worcester, MA, Worcester County (Central)
project director: Devon Kurtz
awarded on: 2012-06-08
amount: $5,000
Co-op City
A documentary about the largest rent strike in American history, which took place in order to keep housing costs down in the Bronx. The planned film offers a powerful parable to today's housing controversies.
Melrose, MA, Middlesex County (Northeast)
project director: Sarah Colt
awarded on: 2012-06-08
amount: $10,000
The Treasures of Spectacle Island
Narrated boat trips to Spectacle Island for underserved youth that blends explorations in archaeology, history, environmental philosophy, and civics.
Boston, MA, Suffolk County (Greater Boston)
project director: Bruce Berman
awarded on: 2012-06-08
amount: $5,000
What's the Big Idea?
A program that uses popular film clips to teach middle school students lessons on ethics and philosophy. Topics range from bullying to lying, friendship, and peer pressure.
(project website)
Northampton, MA, Hampshire County (CT Valley)
project director: Julie Akeret
awarded on: 2012-06-08
amount: $10,000
A Song of Hope: The Life Story of Pauli Murray
Pre-production for a film about Pauli Murray, an African-American woman who made historic contributions to civil rights, women's rights, and religious life in the U.S.
Watertown, MA, Middlesex County (Greater Boston)
project director: Margo Guernsey
awarded on: 2012-06-08
amount: $10,000
Kennedy to Kent State Programming
A public lecture series that will serve as a companion to an exhibit on conflicts in the United States from 1960 to 1974, such as the Kent State riot, Vietnam, and the women's movement.
Worcester, MA, Worcester County (Central)
project director:
awarded on: 2012-06-08
amount: $10,000
Portholes: An Inside Look at the Commercial Fishing Industry
Community Economic Development Center of Southeastern, MA will organize and hold a series of monthly community events on topics and issues related to the commercial fishing industry. The topics range from sustainability to women in the industry.
New Bedford, MA, Bristol County (Southeast)
project director: Laura Orleans
awarded on: 2012-06-08
amount: $5,000
The River Runs Through Us
A six-part radio program that takes on contemporary issues concerning the cultural and historical role of the Connecticut River in the Pioneer Valley. The episodes will examine economics, the environment, and the river's spiritual effects on the area.
Amherst, MA, Hampshire County (CT Valley)
project director: Francesca Rheannon
awarded on: 2012-06-08
amount: $5,000
Greenfield Annual Word Festival
A program that introduces adult education students to literature through poetry and creative writing workshops.
Greenfield, MA, Franklin County (CT Valley)
project director: Judith Roberts
awarded on: 2012-06-08
amount: $7,500
African American Heritage Trail
Development of a walking trail brochure, Web site, and online exhibit focused on 19th- and 20th-century African-American history in Boston, including the monuments of 14 African-American citizens interred at the cemetery.
Cambridge, MA, Middlesex County (Greater Boston)
project director: Bree Harvey
awarded on: 2012-06-08
amount: $5,000
Understanding Islam
Reading and discussion program aimed at helping the general reader to explore the roots of Islam through a variety of texts.
Boxford, MA, Essex County (Northeast)
project director: Nanci M. Hill
awarded on: 2012-04-04
amount: $500
The Cultural Landscape of Herman Melville's Arrowhead
Research into the cultural landscape of Arrowhead, Herman Melville's farm in Pittsfield, during the period of his residency from 1850-1862, in order to better interpret Melville's life and work.
Pittsfield, MA, Berkshire County (Berkshire)
project director: Will Garrison
awarded on: 2012-03-09
amount: $2,900
The Antislavery Movement in Cummington
Support for research on the extensive antislavery activity that took place in the small rural hilltown of Cummington during the three decades that preceded the Civil War.
Cummington, MA, Hampshire County (CT Valley)
project director: Carla Ness
awarded on: 2012-03-09
amount: $3,000
Stirring the Pot: Women in Early Massachusetts
Funding for the hiring of a consultant to devise and execute a public outreach program for the Partnership's activities to mark the founding of Boston.
Boston, MA, Suffolk County (Greater Boston)
project director: Wilfred Holton
awarded on: 2012-03-09
amount: $5,000
Public Health Museum Exhibit Redesign & Reinterpretation
Redesign of the museum's gallery spaces using PhD candidates from Harvard's History of Science department to manage the process.
Needham, MA, Norfolk County (Metrowest Boston)
project director: Sara Lundberg
awarded on: 2012-03-09
amount: $5,000
North Brookfield Poetry Project
A poetry residency, after-school poetry writing workshops for students, and public readings that will be open to the community.
North Brookfield, MA, Worcester County (Central)
project director: Heather Macpherson
awarded on: 2012-03-09
amount: $2,500
A Healing Landscape: Environmental and Social History of the Boston Nature Center
Support for activities that will lead to the inclusion of history into the teaching at the Center, formerly the site of the Boston State Hospital.
Lincoln, MA, Middlesex County (Metrowest Boston)
project director: Julie Brandlen
awarded on: 2012-03-09
amount: $10,000
More Than a Number Exhibition
An exhibition exploring local Cambodian refugee culture, Cambodian-American culture, and non-Cambodians during and after the 1975-1979 genocide. The exhibit will address a number of themes: tolerance, acceptance and hope; the meaning of genocide, survival, healing; and re-building.
Lynn, MA, Essex County (Northeast)
project director: Abby Battis
awarded on: 2012-03-09
amount: $5,000
Coexist and Teaching about Human Dignity
A program designed to engage new audiences in four public high schools to reflect on moral and ethical themes: responsibility to others, the meaning of human dignity, relationships that foster human flourishing, and respect and honor for difference.
Walpole, MA, Norfolk County (Southeast)
project director: Adam Mazo
awarded on: 2012-03-09
amount: $10,000
Generational Legacy Project
A nine-month project, beginning with a series of workshops for previously incarcerated women, culminating in performances to be produced by the Fort Point Theatre Channel.
Boston, MA, Suffolk County (Greater Boston)
project director: Michael Ricca
awarded on: 2012-03-09
amount: $10,000
My Farm at Waltham Winter Multimedia Outdoor Tour at Gore Place
Production of a mobile device audio/video tour of the grounds of Gore Place in Waltham, the Federal estate of Governor Christopher Gore (1758-1827). Gore used his summer place as a productive farm and as a place to experiment with agricultural methods.
(project website)
Waltham, MA, Middlesex County (Metrowest Boston)
project director: Tamar Agulian
awarded on: 2012-03-09
amount: $5,000
Hilltowns History Conference and Fair
A Franklin County history happening, to be held at Colrain Central School. The daylong event will consist of a free history fair with activities and booths for all ages presented by organizations and individuals from around the county, as well as an indoor history conference with about 20 breakout sessions.
Shelburne Falls, MA, Franklin County (CT Valley)
project director: Susan Samoriski
awarded on: 2012-03-09
amount: $5,000
Salem's Franco-American History: Transcribing, Translating and Developing Thematic Guide to Oral History
Transcription and translation of 20 videotaped oral histories of former and current Franco-American residents of Salem.
Salem, MA, Essex County (Northeast)
project director: Susan Edwards
awarded on: 2012-03-09
amount: $3,000
It Happened Here: Our Towns in the American Revolution
A collaborative statewide interactive Web exhibit featuring materials on the Revolutionary War from as many localities in Massachusetts as will participate.
Edgartown, MA, Dukes County (Cape & Islands)
project director: Nancy Cole
awarded on: 2012-03-09
amount: $5,000